Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB

by Apple

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001UE8LU6
• Item model number: MB764LL/A
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,205 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 3, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Backing up is something we all know we should do, but often don't. And while disaster is a great motivator, now it doesn't have to be. Because with the Apple Time Capsule, the nagging need to back up has been replaced by automatic, constant protection. And even better, it all happens wirelessly. Time Capsule includes a wireless hard drive designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. Just set Time Capsule as the designated backup drive for Time Machine, and that's it.

This updated version of Time Capsule features a 500 GB hard drive and includes several new features. It now operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously to ensure top performance for all your devices, and it provides a new Guest Networking option for easy Internet sharing. It also enables you to access your Time Capsule's hard drive over the Internet via a MobileMe account.

The dual-band Time Capsule fits the needs of all your Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

New Features
Some Wi-Fi devices use the 2.4GHz wireless band, including iPhone, iPod touch, and devices using 802.11b/g. Other devices can use either 2.4 GHz or the higher-speed 5 GHz band, such as the latest 802.11n-based Mac computers and Apple TV. Instead of choosing one of the bands, Time Capsule now operates simultaneously on both bands, and your multiband devices automatically use the best available band. This means all your Wi-Fi devices get the fastest possible wireless performance and the best possible range.

And with this updated Time Capsule, it's easier than ever to allow guests to use your Internet connection without sharing your password or giving them access to the rest of your network. Simply enable the new Guest Networking feature using the AirPort Utility application and create a separate Wi-Fi network just for your friends. You can set up this guest network with a different password or with none at all. Your primary network--including your printer, attached drives, or other devices--remains secure.

If you're away from home and need a file on your Time Capsule back at home, you can now access all the files on your Time Capsule drive over the Internet. Simply register your Time Capsule with a MobileMe account (subscription required), and its drive appears in the Finder sidebar of your Mac just like any other attached drive.

Enjoy seamless, wireless backups from your Mac running Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard.

Continuous Backup
This Apple Time Capsule includes a 500 GB hard drive that's designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. Just set Time Capsule as the designated backup drive for Time Machine, and that's it. Depending on how much data you have, your initial backup with Time Capsule could take overnight or longer. After it completes, only changed files are backed up--automatically, wirelessly, and in the background. If you have multiple Mac computers in your house, Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network without having to attach an external drive to each Mac every time you want to back up.

Time Capsule with Time Machine in Leopard is the ideal backup solution. But that doesn't mean Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users can't enjoy the benefits of Time Capsule, too. Because Time Capsule mounts as a wireless hard drive, Tiger and Windows users simply access Time Capsule directly from the wireless network for exchanging and storing files quickly and easily.

Compatibility
Time Capsule works seamlessly and wirelessly with all your Wi-Fi devices. In fact, it's an incredibly easy way for up to 50 users to share a single broadband Internet connection and USB printer without messy cables. And you don't have to worry about a difficult network setup. Time Capsule uses the Bonjour technology in Mac OS X to allow AirPort-equipped Mac computers running Mac OS X to find each other with no effort on your part--they discover each other just by virtue of being connected to the network.

Computers are only part of the wireless story. If you're an Apple TV owner, you can easily integrate it into your Time Capsule network and enjoy the fastest possible connection for syncing with your computer's iTunes library and streaming to your widescreen TV. And if you use an iPhone or an iPod touch, they'll connect to your Time Capsule network to let you surf the web and more. iPhone automatically switches from the cellular network to your Wi-Fi network as soon as you walk in the front door of your home.

Time Capsule works effortlessly with any computer that uses Wi-Fi standards, whether it's a Mac or whether it's a Dell, HP, IBM, or any other Windows-based PC. That's because Time Capsule is based on a draft 802.11n specification and is compatible with the earlier 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g specifications.

Print Command Central
The included USB port is great for sharing a printer throughout your wireless network. Time Capsule and the Bonjour networking technology let everyone in the house or office--Mac and PC users alike--take advantage of one centrally located printer. And if you want to share both a printer and an additional hard drive, you can. Just connect a USB hub to Time Capsule.

Features and Specifications

• Compatible with Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n enabled Mac computers, iPhone, iPod touch, and Windows-based PCs
• Frequency bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz simultaneously
• One Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connecting a DSL or cable modem
• Three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for connecting computers or network devices
• USB 2.0 port for connecting a USB printer or USB external hard drive
• Security: Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2); Wireless security (WEP) configurable for 40-bit and 128-bit encryption; MAC address filtering; NAT firewall

What's in the Box
Time Capsule (500 GB); AirPort Utility for Mac and Windows; AirPort Disk Utility for Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger and Windows; 802.11n Enabler for Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger; Bonjour for Windows; power supply with cord; printed and electronic documentation.

Product Description

500GB Time Capsule

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dual band TimeCapsule - Perfect compliment for MAC users!, March 20, 2009

By 

Tarun Chachra "Tarun Chachra" (Hillsborough, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB (Personal Computers)

Hi All,

Please take a look at my review of the Dual Band Airport Extreme: Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station I have pasted it below this review for your convenience.

Since I have already reviewed the airport extreme, I will not go into details on the routing/wireless/speed options of this time capsule...they are the exact same product and I assure you, you can get great details from my review below.

Time Capsule remains as an exciting niche product that houses a hard drive in its body. The capsule can be purchased with a 500gb and or a 1TB hard drive. Note: the hard drive is not user servicable.

The primary reason for this device to exist was so that MAC users could easily backup their OS X machines using time machine directly to the router. For that it is the ultimate product.

Why then do I give it a 4 out of 5?

Simply because my experience with the hard drive has been that it regularly disconnects and drops connected users....which to me is a flaw when Time Machine is trying to backup my computer. Yes, I have restarted from scratch, reloaded the firmware, etc...but to no avail. I have also spoken to applecare and will be trying a replacement capsule in the days ahead to see if the problem can be alleviated.

I still give this a 4/5 due to my belief in the routing engine and software that sets up and maintains these devices. My review on the airport extreme base station will solidify my 4/5 reviews.

This product is worthy of a 5/5 review once the hard drive issues are ironed out. I hope I am alone in this problematic situation but time will tell. Ironically, my older time capsule has been running for about a year without any issues....so I am hopeful I have a one off problem.

As always, please leave me comments with suggestions, questions, etc.

Below is my review of the dual band Airport Extreme Base Station:

Hi All,

True to my gadget envy, I acquired one of these dual band extreme base stations to see if they held up to the hype. Sure enough, Apple has improved an old mediocre product with a new more powerful hardware engine and improved software abilities.

Features:
802.11 A/B/G/N DUAL Band radios at 2.4ghz and 5ghz simultaneously.
Gigabit Ethernet ports 1x Wan and 4x Lan.
Guest wireless network.
Disk sharing via USB connected drive.
Access to shared disk via MobileMe (apple mobile me subscribers on os x).

The box comes with the router, the power cord, software cd, and documentation....limited documentation.

Time to test.

Setup: Setup of an apple base station is unlike any other in that you cannot access the setup portal via your web browser. You must install the Apple Airport utility (both mac and windows) in order to set the router up. The software is built very well and provides the typical ease of use known to MAC users. You simply walk through a setup wizard and define simple options for your internet connection, your wireless network, etc, etc. NOTE: When setting up your wireless networks you are able to hit the options button so that you can define a 5ghz network as well (example, main wireless network called wifi, the 5ghz is called wifi (5ghz)). Very easy to setup and get going. You are also able to easily define a SECURED (wpa/wpa2) guest wireless network....which simply means that if you have a visitor they can use wi-fi but not get to any of the computers on your home network. Very Secure....and a great feature to boot.

I was using the old Apple Base Station and kept switching between it and a d-link wireless n router.... I got one of these primarily due to dual band and guest access.

Yes, there are other routers out there that can do this for a bit of a lower cost...but the elegance of the Apple Airport Utility make this a router that can be setup without too much hassle. The software will also identify problems in the setup and have you correct them before it uploads them to the router. These abilities alone make this a router for the non-geeks to be able to setup a robust networking environment at home.

Wireless: As I mentioned before, I am comparing this to an older model apple base station that was single band and worked in the N range. Also compared this against a D-Link DIR-655 which is a 2.4ghz Wireless N router. The section on speed below will detail my wireless experience.

Speed: I have Comcast cable modem service which gives me about 15-25mbps down and 2mbps up....I live in an area where there are probably 5-10 subscribers...so my speed is generally GREAT and never experiences a slow down. The first thing I do when I play with a new router is do a speed test....the new base station is comparable to the others and gets the same exact download/upload speeds over ethernet. There is one exception....using the wireless on this unit yielded BETTER results then the older model and the d-link. Normally when doing a speed test over wireless I get about 12-15mbps and 2mbps up....with this router I was able to successfully hit the 20mbps mark and 2mbps UP. WIN WIN!!!! So I figured that this may be an anomaly and thus proceeded to test a download from Microsoft - a 3.4gb file - which normally downloads anywhere between 900kpbs and 1.2mbps. Surprise.....with the new base station I stayed at 1.3mbps and it did not hiccup even once. The same was true when downloading via a wireless connection, albeit the speed was 1.0mbps....faster then I have ever gotten before. WIN WIN again!

Disk Sharing - Not much to be said here...I attached a Western Digital USB hard drive 320gb and shared it. You simply go into the Airport Utility software and setup sharing of the hard drive and define which password should be used. You can either use the password for the router or setup a separate password to use with Disk Sharing. Speed is dependent upon wired or wireless. I tested while transferring 3 files...one was 2mb one was 100mb and one was a 2.5gb file. The two mb file of course went over before I could blink...the 100mb transferred over in about 3-4 minutes...the 2.5gb took about 15 minutes. The first transfer test was with ETHERNET connectivity. I did the same tests over wireless and found that the times doubled...naturally since wireless is a bit slower I expected that and had no issue with the times.

Mobile-Me - I have not tested the mobile me features just yet but will be testing them in the days ahead and post my results here.

So far I feel this router has hit perfection and will now find a permanent spot in my home...at least until something better hits.

Please do leave me comments with suggestions on the review and or any questions you may have.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So far so good, March 26, 2009

By 

G. Ware (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB (Personal Computers)

I had originally purchased a Linksys WRT160n a few weeks ago and for the most part it was a fine router but it had one issue. I couldn't run my sling player and surf the net at the same time. Seemed to be something with the Linksys uPnP but even disabling that feature only fixed the issue slightly, basically surfing was so slow it was not worth it.

Having thought about a Time Capsule for some time I decided to pick up the new one and see if it fixed my sling issue and allowed me to have auto backup from my new Mac Book Pro. Setup was easy if you are familiar with routers and how you had your previous network configured. Mine is a bit complex due to having a VOIP router between my DSL box and my Time Machine. Even with that setup was pretty quick and straight forward. I takes a while getting use to using the airport utility to configure everything rather than your typical web admin page that companies like Netgear and Linksys use. The airport utility is a little more limited then the Linksys configuration admin pages but its enough for most people.

After setting up the router to match my prior wireless network all my wireless devices, including Vista laptop, Wii, PS3, Iphone, Apple TV, came up fine. I have a number of wired devices as well running over Powerline Ethernet Netgear devices and no issues with those either and yes it fixed my sling issue that my Linksys had.

My first backup went smooth. I plugged directly into the router so that I had 1 gig speed from my MBP to the router. I kicked it off before I went to bed and it was completed when I got up for work. Now the incremental backups are seamless and working great. I had 54 gigs to backup on the first go around so might be a bit smaller than most users but still worked fine.

A nice feature that I didn't seem to have in my Linksys is that on the Time Capsule you can pick a combo of WPA/WPA2 and what ever your device will support it will utilize that security level. I have one device that doesn't seem to like WPA2 so on my Linksys I had to put everything at WPA where on my Time Capsule I can have that device on WPA and all the others on WPA2.

I like the guest network ability and I'm surprised other companies have not created the same. The guest network just creates a vlan on a subnet outside of your regular network and anyone visiting your house can have access to the net without access to your network. This is nice for me as I like to have my SSID hidden which caused problems when my wife had friends visiting and they couldn't figure out how to add my network as it wasn't advertised. With the Time Capsule I can hide my network and leave the guest network visible so her friends can get on the net without my having to walk them through a setup each time.

Only thing I wish the time capsule did have was an extra lan port, it has 3 where most routers have 4. Outside of that I think Apple did a good job on the new Time Capsule.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dead after 18 Months, October 7, 2009

By 

Scott Barclay (greenville, nc) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Time Capsule MB764LL/A 500GB (Personal Computers)

My Time Capsule has died after 18 months. Apparently the power supplies overheat and die. I'm not the only one either. As of this writing there are 16 pages of complaints about dead Time Capsules in the discussions section of [...]. If you've got the money to replace this thing every year and a half, enjoy. In my case though, I definitely didn't get what I paid for and won't be replacing it.